The American military ship had previously been seen passing through waters that are still being discussed in the South China Sea despite numerous requests from China, which has a significant military presence in the region. The US Marine Corps has tested a concept called "Lightning Carrier" during joint exercises with the Philippine military. The idea of this concept is to load Amphibian assault ships such as USS Wasp that participated in this exercise, loading 10 or even more F-35 Lightning II Jet -2 times the amount that can normally be loaded on the ship.
"Experiments lead to the realization that this is a choice. I think the Marine Corps might realize that this is the best use of their large Amphibian assault ship. I think you will see more and more such spread ", Bryan Clark, a Navy affairs expert, told media outlets.
The F-35B Lightning II with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), was launched from the flight deck of the Wasp class Amphibious assault ship. The US Marines plan to use such "Lightning Carriers" as a supplement to large aircraft carriers.
According to a spokesman for the Marine Corps, they will take full advantage of the Amphibian assault ship as a sea base, but at the same time will provide a significant Air Force with attack capability.
Compared to regular operators, "Lightning Carriers" have a much smaller effective range, when they fight Navy and air aggression or carry out attacks. This weakness is caused by the need to use modifications to the F-35B, suitable for short take-offs and vertical landings required on amphibious ship decks. The "B" modification has a smaller operational range and effective payload than the F-35C - a modification used on US Navy aircraft carriers.
Another weakness of "Lightning Carriers" is that they can carry far less fighter jets than Supercarriers. Although theoretically it can be installed to hold up to 16-20 F-35s, that number means that compared to more than 75 Jets that can be carried by Gerald R. Ford class operators.
The exercises were part of the US-Philippines exercise, which reportedly conducted exercises on the possibility of recapturing a small island with joint forces. The Philippines controls several islands in the South China Sea, whose waters are still being discussed by several countries, including China.
Source : Jakarta.Greater.News.
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